WAR HERO POISED TO LEAD LABOR OUT OF ISRAEL`S POLITICAL WILDERNESS

The crowd was adoring but the candidate looked like a man being led off to the dentist`s chair.

Pressing the flesh does not come naturally to Yitzhak Rabin. As a politician, he prefers to play the more familar role of no-nonsense general.

He mounts the podium and the crowd screams ''Ra-bin! Ra-bin!'' He smiles

(or is it a grimace?) and launches into his stump speech. Ninety seconds later, he is finished.

Despite the wooden performance, Rabin, the 70-year-old hero of the 1967 Six-Day War, is riding the crest of an amazing turnaround in the Labor Party`s electoral expectations. Current polls show Labor leading the Likud Party by a margin of 5 or 6 percent as the June 23 election draws near.

That would translate into 43 or 44 seats in the 120-seat Knesset and give Labor, which now holds 38 seats, its first real chance to form a government since 1977, when it was swept from power by Likud`s Menachem Begin, who died in March.

Meretz, a merger of three small left-wing parties, is expected to win 10 or 11 seats and would be a natural coalition partner for Labor. Arab parties are projected to win six seats, and while the Arabs have never been invited to join a government, they would certainly line up with Labor to block Likud`s chances.

The polls show Likud, which currently holds 37 seats, dropping to 35 or even 33 seats. One poll claimed that 19 percent of those who voted Likud in 1988 are actively considering a switch to Labor.

Likud`s usual coalition partners-the right-wing ultranationalist parties and the religious parties-could bring Likud close to the 61-seat total needed to form a government. But two of the ultranationalist parties withdrew from the last Likud-led coalition when Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir began peace talks with the Palestinians.

Likud strategists are lowering expectations, predicting that neither major party will muster enough strength to form a government. The likely outcome, they suggest, is a national unity government led by Rabin.

Shamir, at 77, seems aloof and detached. His party has been wracked by bitter factional fighting, and there has been open talk of replacing him at the top of the ticket with Benyamin Begin, son of the late prime minister whose name evokes strong magic among the party faithful.

''The Likud party will be in shambles whether we win or lose,'' said one ranking party operative. He added that he ''wouldn`t be surprised'' to see Shamir step down if Likud fares poorly in the election.

For Rabin, Labor`s resurgence offers a chance to regain the office that he held briefly in the mid-1970s. Rabin was forced to step down as prime minister in 1977 after it was discovered that he and his wife had maintained an illegal bank account in the U.S.

Shimon Peres took over as party leader, and for the last 15 years Rabin has fumed in the No. 2 slot while Labor`s political fortunes plummeted.

When Rabin edged out the dovish Peres for the party`s leadership in Israel`s first open primary last February, it instantly restored Labor`s viability.

Rabin`s background as army chief of staff during the 1967 war and his hard-line stance against the Palestinian uprising as defense minister in the last national unity government have helped fashion an image as a tough, pragmatic hawk-perched atop a ticket thick with traditional Labor doves.

Despite the brevity of his remarks, Rabin was well received at the rally in Petah Tikva, a working-class Tel Aviv suburb that is considered a bellwether in Israeli elections.

Voters lingered long after the candidate had departed to debate the issues.

''With 250,000 people out of work, you`d have to be crazy to vote for Likud again,'' said Shalom Rot, a 43-year-old insurance salesmen. ''This is a complete reversal of 1977. Back then people were fed up with Labor so they switched to Likud. Now they are fed up with Likud, so they are switching to Labor.''

Pini Tradelsi, a 32-year-old machine operator who voted for Likud in the last election, agreed-up to a point. ''Likud will have to change leadership before I`ll vote for them again,'' he said.

Tradelsi said he admired Rabin but was uneasy with Rabin`s declared willingness to trade land for peace.

He said he would most likely cast his vote for one of the small ultranationalist parties.

Although there is no shortage of substantive issues facing Israeli voters-the peace process, the economy, the absorption of ex-Soviet immigrants, deteriorating relations with the U.S.-the campaign thus far has had a tabloid tone.

Likud also has questioned Rabin`s steadiness as a leader, citing his brief breakdown on the eve of the 1967 war. Rabin attributes the episode to exhaustion and says his performance should be judged by the war`s results.

This week Likud unveiled a TV spot in which a voice-over narrates an account of Rabin`s breakdown while a pair of shaking hands stubs out a cigarette in a drink and a doctor prepares a tranquilizer injection.

Labor has counterattacked with a TV spot drawing attention to a recent government audit that alleges waste and corruption under Likud.